Fatal Stabbing At A Boston School

It has been reported that after a fatal stabbing in a high school of a Boston suburb, a fifteen year old child is dead, and a sixteen your old has been charged with first degree murder. At this point, the child has been arraigned where he has pleaded non guilty to the charge of first degree murder. James Alenson, 15, the victim was pronounced dead upon arrival at the hospital.



School violence has been a harsh reality in the last ten to fifteen years. We've gone from school massacres like Columbine, to the shooting of a six year old elementary girl. This is the latest statistic to an already long list of innocent victims. It is reported that the two individuals broke out into a fight in the bathroom, which left Mr. Alenson murdered, and the accused John Odgren is up on murder charges.

I normally express remorse for the victim and hope for leniency on the guilty. I am a firm believer that an eye for an eye is no way to do business. But the continued thought of these young children losing their lives over petty disputes is beginning to become a little much. Making an example of the guilty is not the way to approach this, but something has to be done to let it be known that children can not behave in this manner.

It has already been stated that he will be arraigned as an adult. I support this, the accused is sixteen which is more than enough to form some sort of culpability.

My thoughts are with the families of both children, as both lost a child today.

Related News Links:
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This happened in a fairly affluent suburb of Boston. The assailant was a special needs student. I would bet that that will be a key part of his defense.

Massachusetts does not have a death penalty, btw.

[edit on 19-1-2007 by jsobecky]

jso, I had already heard that he had pleaded Not Guilty due to certain aspects of his environment. I will refrain from stating specifics, as it is far too early to be certain. But I believe it has something to do with the manner in which he was treated in the school by his peers.

For now, all we have is vagueness. Sixteen, knife, and stabbed twice. At this point, I do believe it is completely reasonable to believe that some sort of culpability was formed.

I withhold the right to eat my words, but in this scenario, I have more sympathy for the victim. Which as many may know, it is not always the case. Too often, I sympathize with the assailant more than the victim. Not sure why, just an emotion that is sparked within me on each individual case.

The assailant supposedly walked into the principal's office and admitted it, saying "I hope he doesn't die". He repeated his "confession" in front of the police.

The article gives the assailant's address as Princeton, which is about 40 miles from the high school. Maybe L-S had some special training available for his needs, I don't know.

I'm just rambling, and have no real info on what happened. Tragic, is all I can say.

[edit on 20-1-2007 by jsobecky]

With every one of these tragedies we endure, we ask ourselves the same questions again and again.

"Is there anything we can do to prevent this?"

I believe that school violence is in the realm of poverty. It is a harsh reality that we going to have to deal with. All of the metal detectors, police officers within the school, awareness on the issue, etc., is only going to do so much. At the end of the day, children are going to be ridiculed, bullied, and degraded on a daily basis which will result in some acting out with some sort of deadly weapon.

When it comes to murder, I've always considered it to be completely different with a knife and a gun. To physically stab an individual, I think it takes a certain type of human to do that. Shooting someone is far less interactional, which may make it, ..."easier"? But when it comes to school violence, the knife as a weapon leaves the general public resting much easier I believe. As a gun opens the door for the possibility of a mass murder, while a knife seems to show intent towards one individual.

Does anyone agree with that? In a school attack, would you prefer to hear of the assailant carrying a knife over a gun? Or does it even matter?

Knives don't need ammunition, if a blade runner is skilled and capable he can cause a lot of havoc because knives are quite silent, too. Of course as long as there's guns, 'kinfe control' policies won't materialize, but if the gungrabbers ever have their ways, all bets are off. Great Britain is a good example, see

www.channel4.com...

...of course, (would be) criminals don't care either way.

My problem with how we report on or we talk about school violence is what we claim caused the violence in the first place. I feel that with alot or all of these the suspect is usually bullied by many of the students that either they shot or were around when they started the violence. That might not be the reason in this case but like columbine where the suspects were bullied and shunned and noone talked to them which caused them to think about violence towards other students and teachers. We need to talk to people we feel are bullied before they erupt into violence and kill many people.

I agree. We can not instill a new measure within the school to prevent these school tragedies from occuring. The complete framework of children themselves need to be reworked to prevent these in the future. When someone wants to be a bully, they should not be accepted with open arms by their peers. One poor child is the victim of bullying, the bully reaps the benefit of popularity, and the rest of the class brown nose the bully so they are not the next victim. This works fine for everyone, except for the victim.

Something as small as being bullied in school can truly build within an individual. Which is clearly evident in schools like Columbine High School.

This is an endless debate to what measures can be taken to insure the safety of our children.

Chissler, to touch on your knife/gun thoughts from above, I understand what you're saying. It definitely takes a certain kind of mindset/emotion to make one attack with a blade. It's a much more direct and personal assault, as opposed to a gun when you can point, close your eyes, and squeeze. Personally, I don't know which weapon would concern me more as they are both disturbing, but if I had to choose, I'd agree with you that I'd be more worried about a gun than a knife.

Regardless, this is a most unpleasant topic, and I wish there wasn't a reason for us to be talking about such things.

It scares me to think how accessible automatic weapons are becoming. A child could enter a school and take out hundreds. With a knife, it would be tough to come across more than a few casualties. A knife, in my opinion, indicates culpability towards one individual. A gun, in my opinion, indicates that the hatred is being directed towards the world and they are simply looking to kill. It takes a special type of person to kill with a knife, but to kill for the same of killing; well, that is psychotic.

Klebold & Harris walked into Columbine with guns and killed several people. They had no one person in mind, they just wanted to kill. This individual seemed to of pinpoint one individual and attacked with a knife. The defense is that there was no intent, but the sole fact that he was carrying a knife, that is intent in itself.

School Shootings/Stabbings are something we are becoming too familiar with.

We must be averaging a handful every year now for quite some time.

I personally say a knife is more concerning. Its more personal, which means means certian things. For one, hes probably not being bullied or outcasted like the columbine kids. If he was, it would be a gun. He would use a gun to get back at as many of them as possible.

When its one person getting under your skin, and you stab them, it shows you are a certian kind of person. It wasn't the pressure of a school of kids making fun of you and bullying you. When that happens, its more understandable to see a person snap. When you intend to kill one person, its personal, and its a extreme grudge, which such a person was unstable before the bullying. In such a case, the child didn't crack, he was broken to begin with.

I have not seen an instance where one single bully lead to a murder. Ive seen where one bully lead to a group bullying, which lead to eventually a school bullying, leading to disaster. I just see it as, if you person can cause you to crack, then its probably not the bullying that did it for you.

grim, normally I would completely agree. On a few threads I have discussed the difference in murders between the use of a gun and a knife. It is more concerning for sure, but the usage of a knife may actually save a few lives while in a closed environment.

From some of the articles I have read, it seemed that the child was growing tired of the bullying he was receiving. Some indicated that the victim was the culprit of the bullying, while others were vague and did not exactly say. Nonetheless, I think the child was specific in his choice of victims.

It is more disheartening to hear of an individual being capable of murdering with a knife, but guns can cause so much more damage in a closed environment, such as a school.

[edit on 20-1-2007 by chissler]

Im talking about the pyschology of the attacker. It does in fact save lives when they are acting on a personal vendetta usually, as they wont kill innocent people intentionally, usually just targeting one specific person. That doesn't change the fact the persons psychological mindset is more alarming when such a personal vendetta is acted upon.

It shows a more personal intense desire to kill. Although you may think "if he stabbed one person, thats it" they are often the type to stab one, then if they can get away with it, surely stab another later on in life because as we can see they can't handle any sort of pressure.

Where as if you have 100 kids from school harrassing you daily, that doesn't happen normally in society. When a kid like that snaps, it wasn't as much as a desire to kill them as a desire to stop the pain they are feeling themselves. Its coupled with not knowing how else to deal with it being a kid.

Some one who kills some one and its personal usually are the more twisted individuals who will commit multiple murders. Serial killers usually follow this path. Desire to kill and its more of a personal thing then just shooting. You don't see those types bring a gun and just start shooting. People that do that are just mentally snapped and go bezerk. They have a better possibility of being rehabilitated then the personal killers I believe.

Those mass murder types who just shoot are reacting to extreme stress where they just want it to all end. They are so overwhelmed they shoot people just to make it all stop.

Thats just how I see it. The gun is like "make it stop" and just overwhelmed with stress and pain, not intentional killers. The knife guy who is being personal is the more twisted individual who is looking to inflict pain rather then stop his own.

Again, this comes down to parenting.
Were the parents aware of the childs situation, at school ?
If not, why ? Did they not involve themselves in their childs schooling, and surroundings ?

I'm aghast at people saying he was "pushed over the edge" by bullies.
Have you been bullied ? I have. I never killed a schoolmate. Been goaded into fights, but when the fight was over, it was over. Period.

To say this child had a "reason" to do this is plain stupid. Parents should have known the situation and taken appropriate action. To allow a child to act this way is a direct reflection on the parents.

Want to take legal action against someone ? Start with the parents. All it takes is one case. Maybe the slack-ass people raising children using a VCR, PC or Wii will get the picture.

My 2 cent,
Lex

Yes I have been bullied. To the extent I was switched to another school. I was not only harrassed and made fun of by many students, but even a couple football coaches. The coaches made fun of me and a nickname that caught on with the students who harrassed me on a daily basis for about 2 years before I just started fighting anyone who said the wrong thing to me.

When the found out why, I was not expelled but was switched to another school. Why didn't I shoot or stab anyone? Because it actually never crossed my mind. Another reason is because they are just stupid arrogrant kids who will never amount to anything in life and they are insecure with themselves and fear what other people will think of them if they don't join in. My ability to realize that is what kept me from doing anything that would we irriverable.

That didnt stop me from pounding them until 3 teachers forcefully pulled me off of a kid 3 years older then me and much larger then me. But it did stop me from acting lethal. Im extremely intellegent and know better.

Some kids don't.

Originally posted by Lexion
I'm aghast at people saying he was "pushed over the edge" by bullies.
Have you been bullied ? I have. I never killed a schoolmate. Been goaded into fights, but when the fight was over, it was over. Period.

You have been bullied, this child has been bullied, I have been bullied, none of which means we know how the other feels. We all deal with adversity differently. Even though we share a similar episode, the events in our perception may differ greatly. I can remember being younger and so frustrated with bullies. I never once thought of reacting with violence, but I am sure many others have.

Understanding that we all deal with things differently will allow us to see that we may not understand what somebody else is going through. Even if we have been through something similar.